Document is clipped from the right corner of $1000 bond for the SELMA, MARION & MEMPHIS RAILROAD COMPANY. Document meas. approx. 8.50 x 3.50 inches.

The reverse shows some of the artwork from the bond. The obverse is printed in black ink with:

THE SELMA, MARION AND MEMPHIS RAILROAD COMPANY

HEREBY FURTHER AGREES AND BINDS ITSELF TO PAY THE PRINCIPAL AND INTEREST OF THE WITHIN BOND IN GOLD COIN OF THE UNITED STATES.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, THE SAID COMPANY HAS CAUSED THESE PRESENTS TO BE SUBSCRIBED BY ITS PRESIDENT, HEREUNTO DULY AUTHORIZED, THIS FIRST DAY OF SEPTEMBER, A.D. 1870.

(signed) N. B. FORREST, PRESIDENT

The signature is in period ink and though it is not bold, it is good and readable. Document bears the seal of the Selma, Marion & Memphis Railroad Company.

Overall condition is excellent.

Nathan Bedford Forrest is one of the war's most unusual figures. Although less educated than many of his fellow officers, before the war Forrest had already amassed a fortune as a planter, real estate investor, and slave trader. He was one of the few officers in either army to enlist as a private and be promoted to general officer and corps commander during the war. Although Forrest lacked formal military education, he had a gift for leadership, strategy and tactics. He created and established new doctrines for mobile forces, earning the nickname The Wizard of the Saddle.

Forrest was accused of war crimes at the Battle of Fort Pillow for allowing forces under his command to massacre hundreds of black Union Army and white Southern Unionist prisoners. Union Major General William T. Sherman investigated the allegations and did not charge Forrest with any improprieties.

A leading Southern advocate in the postwar years, he was a pledged delegate from Tennessee to the New York Democratic national convention of 4 July 1868 and he served as the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, but later distanced himself from the organization.    [ad]  [ph:L]

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